The present invention relates generally to movable foot supports and to impact absorbing arrangements. More particularly the present invention relates to improvements in a foot support of a lawn swing arranged for generally oscillatory movement.
Foot supports are typically provided on lawn swings, and, less frequently, on other types of swings, so that persons sitting in a seat portion of the swing can rest their feet on the foot support. Lawn swing foot supports generally have a pair of parallel slat support rods with a plurality of parallel floor slats disposed transversely between the slat support rods. Generally, four vertically disposed members are provided to connect the foot support to the seat portion of the lawn swing.
As the lawn swing oscillates back and forth in an arc, the foot support, because it is typically furthest away from the point of oscillation of the swing, will scribe about the widest arc. If there are any bystanders, such as children at play, near the moving swing they risk being struck and injured by the swing and more particularly by the slats at the leading and trailing edges of the moving foot support. Especially in lawn swings, the large mass of the swing and of the occupants provides a significant force during swinging to seriously injure someone struck by the foot rest.
Various arrangements have been disclosed to provide an impact absorbing capability on equipment used by children, such as playground equipment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,258 issued to Yates on Jan. 3, 1978 discloses an impact absorbing seat for a child's swing. The seat is provided with impact absorbing edges so that the seat may undergo a deformation of an outer polymeric seating material provided on the edges of the seat upon impact for example with a child. No foot support structure is disclosed in the Yates patent and none would normally be provided on a single seat playground swing such as is disclosed in the Yates patent.
A child's chair with an adjustable back rest is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 961,311 issued on June 14, 1910 to Nelson. The Nelson child's chair includes an adjustable foot rest having padded surfaces. The foot rest is padded on at least one side and is apparently constructed of a rigid material. The Nelson padded foot rest is apparently provided to provide a comfortable support for the legs of the occupant of the swing rather than to provide an impact absorbing arrangement.
A shin shield for a step ladder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,518,107 issued on Aug. 8, 1950 to Wilson wherein an elongated sponge rubber block is detachably secured to a front edge of a step ladder to cushion the shins of a person using the step ladder.
Other arrangements for absorbing impacts to individuals by various devices are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,884,495 issued to Petock on May 20, 1975; and 4,103,934 issued to Arnholt et al on Aug. 1, 1978.
U.S. Pat. No. De 208,643 issued on Sept. 19, 1967 to Gervais discloses a swing with a foot support. The foot support is not, however, shown to have an impact absorbing edge.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a foot support having at least one impact absorbing edge member for use with a swing in order to cushion an impact caused by the foot support if the foot support strikes a bystander.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved foot support especially for a lawn swing having an impact absorbing edge member arranged parallel to and spaced away from the foot support to constitute a leading edge portion or a trailing edge portion of the foot support so that the impact absorbing member can flex towards the foot support and absorb a larger impact than if the edge portion were provided immediately adjacent the foot support.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide an impact resistant lawn chair swing which substantially reduces the resulting injury to a child upon an accidental impact with a foot rest of the lawn swing.
An impact absorbing lawn chair swing according to the present invention includes a foot support structure for supporting a person's feet. An impact absorbing member is preferably secured parallel to and spaced away from at least one edge portion of the foot support to form a leading edge portion or a trailing edge portion of the foot support.